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I’ve posted a lot less in the last few days and it’s because of my duties to you to review the upcoming onslaught of Christmastime movies. As longtime readers know, I’m a film critic for the SiriusXM Patriot Channel’s terrific morning show, “The Mike Church Show,” and you can hear my movie reviews on the show, every Friday Morning between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. Eastern. And I’m a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society. Every year, we have a day when we sit through movie after movie after movie, so that we can vote, as every city’s mainstream media film critics do, on the movies of the year, best actor, etc. I know it sounds fun–and pathetic to whine about it–but we waste the day away, sitting through a whole lot of bad movies for those one or two gems. (Plus, we get a ton of movies in the mail, which we’re expected to watch, then cut up and throw out (or save and never ever lend out to anyone, lest we be banned from screening lists). I’ve cut up and thrown out a heck of a lot, this year.)

This year, our movie coma days were Monday and today. And I sat through a lot of stinkers. Below is what I saw and the respective video trailers. I only really liked one. But that one was the year’s best movie, in my view. Can you guess which one it is? You’ll know soon enough–stay tuned for my reviews when the movies come out in the coming weeks. And remember, this week alone, I sat through 12 hours of this for only 2 good hours, the rest of it garbage (and countless hours in other weeks). That’s a whole lotta lifespan I’ll never get back. In many ways, I feel like a sifter in 1849, going through a lot of dirt for only a few tiny gold nuggets. I’ll be letting you know my nominations/votes for the best movies, actors, etc. in the next couple of days. Again, here’s what I saw . . .

13 Responses

Working in theaters for 6 years, I don’t trust trailers for crap. But I quite like guessing the best movie for a person to enjoy from a slate of options.

It’s either King’s Speech or (since I’ve heard bupkes about it) Company Men. You have a noted hatred of Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Mark Wahlberg, and gratuitous sex, which I believe takes out all but those two flicks, and what looks like a younger version of the 2.5 Marx-reviewed It’s Complicated (plus you generally despise chick flicks, which this reeks of).

King’s Speech sounds quirkily interesting but potentially mind-numbing, and Company Man could easily veer into rabid anti-corporate and anti-capitalist drivel.

But you tend to enjoy period pieces with well-done sets and costumes (your guilty pleasure of Mad Men, for instance), which leads me to go with King’s Speech.

Company Men: Looks like a jab at downsizing. Has Ben Afleck. On the positive side has Tommy Lee Jones and looks like it might celebrate American “can do” attitude. Could be good, but likely to blame everyone’s job loss on GW Bush.

Tourist: Looks fun. But probably too much sex. Depp’s timing with his lines could be really good, unless all the good ones are in the trailer. Jolie’s niche is playing tough, but hot women. Politics aside this could be good.

How do you know: Sex comedy. Definitely bad (although I like Wilson).

Overall, King’s Speech looks like the one standing tall above the others.

The King’s Speech of course. My wife and I saw the trailer when we went to see Harry Potter. An excellent film, BTW. My wife is a British WII history buff who has read all of Churchill, some books many times. She got so excited she almost clapped for the trailer.